Car and Driver: Save the Manuals!

Annual surveys reveal that less than 10% of new cars sold in America are equipped with manual transmissions, and more and more BMWs are starting …

Annual surveys reveal that less than 10% of new cars sold in America are equipped with manual transmissions, and more and more BMWs are starting to lose their manual boxes in favor of the newer 8-speed automatic, more efficient transmissions.

But are manual transmission really a rare commodity these days? Are the automakers stealing the pleasure of driving?

Car and Driver, shortly followed by Consumer Reports, started an awareness campaign to “Save the Manuals”.

Eddie Alterman of C&D has the first word:

You know what we need? We need a crusade. We need to save the manuals! Not only are manual transmissions often more fuel-efficient than their two-pedal counterparts, you also can’t text while operating one. So let’s lobby carmakers to produce more of these things because they’re safer and more frugal, and let’s not tell them that they’re way more fun. Let’s train our offspring in the ancient ways of the stick shift. Let all of us knights of the clutch pedal drive our manual-equipped cars to Washington and pop ’em in front of Barry O’s house.

Consumer Reports follows with a list of currently new cars available with a manual transmission: